Night Owl

I put Addie to bed around eight tonight and then decided to go grocery shopping after Wil got home from work. 

When I got home at 11:30, Wil was in bed asleep (because that is a normal place to be after 11 at night when all your kids are asleep) and Addie was playing in the front room. 

Closer inspection found a bag of frozen strawberries on the floor, a bag of frozen grapes on the counter, the bag of animal crackers (that were on one of the top shelves of the pantry) on the couch and a melted popsicle on the kitchen table. 

I asked her what happened....

"I'm hungry, mommy!" (CLEARLY!). 

"I do the dishes." (There's a chair by the sink). 

"I get the elephant cookies (animal crackers), they were high. I had to get the chair and go way up high. 

"Daddy's sleeping." 

Silly girl!

Snow Trip!

This weekend was our third annual snow trip! We've gone every year since Addie was born, and I look forward to it every year. It's usually a lot of fun...and well, this year I think we should at least get credit for trying! 

The babies were SO not impressed by the snow and were SO annoyed that we kept putting more clothes on them! Four layers, socks, mittens AND a hat? If they could speak, I'm pretty sure they would tell you it was child abuse!

Mason refused to sit in the sled, but he seemed to like laying down. He would make a pouty face and start to cry whenever the sled stopped, so I spent my snow time walking around dragging the sled behind me. He didn't really smile, so I couldn't tell if he was having fun or just too mad to make noise!

Addie had a great time in the snow! She did, however, refuse to use the sled for its intended purpose - sledding! She was happiest walking around dragging the sled behind her. (We have the weirdest kids!)

Alisa tolerated the sled, but she much preferred being held.

Wil took Alisa down the hill once in the sled, and I took Mason once. They seemed to like it - meaning they didn't cry.

After our snow trip last year, my Grandma pulled some snow boots out of her closet to give to me. Apparently they were hers (or my mom's, I can't remember) when they lived in North Dakota when my mom was a teenager. I didn't even think about the fact that would make them about 30 years old. I just loaded them up and put them on when we got to the snow. The bottom of one of them came off right after I put it on so Wil taped it back together for me before I got out of the car. The bottom of the second one started coming off after my one and only trip down the hill with Mason, so I had to hobble back to the car pulling him behind me to tape it back together. Even being held together by tape snow boots are SO much better than the tennis shoes I've always worn in the snow before!

After that, Wil brought the babies back to the car to warm up and Addie and I played in the snow. First, we tried making a snowman, but the snow was either too packed and we couldn't get it to form right or it was too powdery and it wouldn't stick together. So, we moved on to snow angels. Addie LOVED making snow angels!

To finish off the day, we played with her bucket and shovel - you know the ones made for the beach - and made snow castles before we headed to the hotel.

The babies LOVED the hotel! There was so much to explore and new furniture to pull themselves up on. Mason made friends with the little boy in the mirror. There was even a heated pool, and we all went swimming that night. I mean, what's not to love?

Well, except the two babies in one pack and play sleeping arrangements. Alisa woke up at 3 a.m. and never really went back to sleep.

You would think snow and swimming would have made it Addie's best day ever. It might have been, until she got sick and started throwing up. She threw up at least four times that night and once in the car on the way home. Ugh! We originally planned to play in the snow the next morning too. But we decided it was best to just head home.

So there you have it...our 2014 snow trip. I'm exhausted just thinking about it...but we really did have a lot of fun...you know, in between the crying and the puking and the crying and the puking...

Lemon

My aunt and uncle have a lemon tree that grows huge, round, slightly orange colored lemons. Basically, it grows lemons that look like oranges. You just have to know that tree is lemons and eat accordingly. 

So, when they sent me home with a bag of oranges from their trees, I assumed all of the large, round, orange colored objects were oranges. Then one night I was feeding the babies and thought, I should peel an orange and see how they do eating just the inside part. I peeled said orange, and took a bite as I was picking it apart for the babies. 

Let's take a quick trip into my thoughts at that moment," Oooohhhh...that's a lemon! Well, I can't give them a lemon...wait...I should TOTALLY give them a lemon!"

Alisa, didn't care at all. She ate every bite I gave her and never really made much of a face. 

Mason looked at me as though he had been betrayed. And then protested until I removed the offending piece of fruit from his mouth!

The Fort

Addie has been obsessed with building forts lately. "Mommy, you want to help me decorate my fort?" Yes, those toys spread all over the ground are her decorations - Alisa and Mason even got to help!

Please notice, all THREE children are LOOKING at the camera and SMILING!! That may be the only time it's ever happened!

Splish, Splash

I was feeling brave last week and decided to try out bath time all by myself while Wil was at work. The mission: two babies, one bath tub, zero drowning!

We did it! Alisa, Mason and I make quite the bath time team! Alisa, had a blast!

Playing with the water, splashing, crawling around, she was ALL about it!

Mason spent most of his bath like this - too nervous to touch the water with his hands. Silly boy!

I had to put Mason on the floor of his room, which is right next to the bathroom, so as not to leave Alisa alone for longer than half a millisecond. I grabbed Alisa and walked back out to him laying on the floor like this and whining. He looked adorable, so I had to take his picture!

If you're keeping score, that's Me - 1, Babies - 1,000,000,002.

The Museum

The week before Wil went back to school, we used our trusty library culture passes one more time to go the Children's Museum. Addie had so much fun she now asks me on a regular basis  if we can go back to the museum. 

Alisa's project for the day was learning to pull herself up. She practiced over and over and over and over using my hands as leverage. 

Addie LOVED the pretend grocery store. She pulled items of the shelf, pushed the shopping cart and put them on the conveyor belt for Daddy to ring up and put in the bag. She could have spent HOURS in that room alone!

Mason especially loved this block, that he carried around in his mouth like a puppy dog!

Also, he found a mirror and made a new friend! He has a noise he makes when he's happy - I'm not sure how to explain it except to say it sounds like a cross between an exclamation and a sigh. This is him, making that sound at his new best friend! I LOVE this picture of him!

Santa

Santa brings the best gifts! 

A basketball hoop, phone and popper thing for the babies...Addie still thinks these are her toys. She was so proud of herself when she made a basket...of COURSE she made a basket, the hoop is designed for kids 6-12 months old!

Look at those cute Santa bum pajamas!

Addie's present from Santa was the best of all! A fully stocked play kitchen. She was SO excited...until Santa's shoddy craftsmanship ended with the oven door falling on her foot (she walked funny for the rest of the day).

We have it on pretty good authority from the elves that they made the play kitchen out of an old entertainment center that used to look like this...

The two elves that made it were extremely proud of themselves and asked us to post the before and after shots on this very blog. :-)